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Topic: What Exactly Is Creation Science (Read 1162 times)

Is it intended to be a means by which the biblical creation narrative can be given some measure of veracity or is it at its core a more objective real type of science that uses evidence to support the hypothesis that the physical universe and life within it appeared suddenly and have not changed substantially since appearing?

It's "scientists" are either pastors who dabble in pseudo-science or pseudo-scientists who dabble in preaching. Their peer reviewers are church attendees, religious conference goers, and homeschool science textbooks.

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If xian hell really exists, the stench of the burning billions of us should be a constant, putrid reminder to the handful of heavenward xians how loving their god is. - neopagan

The former. It's just religious apologetics attempting to use the success of science to get the same degree of acceptance. While there may be theists who genuinely believe the scientific method confirms their Self Projection As God (SPAG), even a cursory look at the evidence shows otherwise. Which is why most dedicated believers prefer not to look very far in that direction, or at all.

« Last Edit: August 23, 2013, 06:10:48 PM by wright »

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Live a good life... If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid.--Marcus Aurelius

"Creation Science" often refers to old-school young-earth scientific creationism, the primary organizations for which are the Institute for Creation Research and the Creation Research Society. That their purposes are religious rather than scientific is evident in their own tenets/belief statements.

All things in the universe were created and made by God in the six literal days of the Creation Week described in Genesis 1:1-2:3, and confirmed in Exodus 20:8-11. The creation record is factual, historical, and perspicuous; thus all theories of origins or development that involve evolution in any form are false. All things that now exist are sustained and ordered by God's providential care. However, a part of the spiritual creation, Satan and his angels, rebelled against God after the creation and are attempting to thwart His divine purposes in creation.

The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths.

Leaving aside the obvious religious nature of these statements, requiring a commitment in advance to any conclusion, rather than following where the evidence leads, is fundamentally incompatible with science. Thus, these are clearly not scientific organizations, despite their pretense.

Likely due to the failure of old-school Creation Science to sneak creationism into U.S. public school science classrooms, we now have a new, more "sciency", version of Creation Science called "Intelligent Design". This is primarily promoted by an organization called Discovery Institute, which, like the older ICR and CRS, also parades as a scientific research and education organization. Though the Discovery Institute has avoided overtly religious references in its literature, replacing "creator" with "intelligent designer", for example, and though it does not espouse the biblical literalism of old-school Creation Science, and accepts the fact of an old earth and even some limited evolution (so called "micro evolution"), its primarily religious nature is still apparent in its own statements about its mission and philosophy.

Science and Culture. Scientific research and experimentation have produced staggering advances in our knowledge about the natural world, but they have also led to increasing abuse of science as the so-called “new atheists” have enlisted science to promote a materialistic worldview, to deny human freedom and dignity and to smother free inquiry. Our Center for Science and Culture works to defend free inquiry. It also seeks to counter the materialistic interpretation of science by demonstrating that life and the universe are the products of intelligent design and by challenging the materialistic conception of a self-existent, self-organizing universe and the Darwinian view that life developed through a blind and purposeless process.

Again we see an up-front commitment to a religious conclusion. DI's about page also reveals that this organization may be more about promoting religious right political ideology in general than promoting creationism specifically. What it is clearly NOT promoting, however, is science.